We thought we pulled it off allright, but the new clutch is engaging wiht a "jerk". What went wrong, I'd like to have an idea before we yank it all apart again (ugh).
This only happens from a stop when accelerating quickly. On a steep hill it's hard not to stall, and the clutch makes the whole car shake until it's released all the way. In the other gears and while driving everythings fine. I climbed under there and there's no sign of trouble. We replaced friction disk, pressure plate, pilot and throwout bearing, and rear main seal. Thanks.

Peter P.
Portland, OR

Maybe it is adjusted too tight?
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john,,1985, 245:GLTi 246k mi..so.california

I had a friend that put a new clutch set in his 68 AMX and it was so grabby he couldn't hardly take off without whiplash. He backed it up to a big tree and "bedded" in the clutch and that seemed to take care of it for him.

On the other hand, I once put a new clutch, pressure plate, turned flywheel, everything strictly by the book, into a 68 Cougar and it chattered (if I tried to let it out slow and smooth) for as long as I owned it. I just developed a clutching technique where I engaged it pretty quick picking up revs from idle at the same time. After I got used to that I could take off without a shudder.

Seems like sometimes when you try to do everything absolutely perfect everything turns to crap! In my Volvo I just hit the flywheel with a DA sander with 60 grit, same thing on the USED pressure plate, and wiped off the USED clutch disc with a rag and lacquer thinner and it's smooth as silk! Go figure...

Justin B.

Yeah I can second the "wait and see" option. Not as much after replacement, more half way down the clutch life I experienced some bad shudder, to the point I thought it would rip the engine supports. I was about ready to change the clutch when it just slowly disappeared. Clutch was fine for years. The car (76 model finally fell apart from rust.

It could be some remaining oil on the disk or pressure plate, maybe the parts have to get used to each other.

Give it some time, but be carefull not to damage things in the mean time (avoid hill starts)

Reg,

Jorn

If you left some oil on the clutch parts you may have some shuddering. Or you may just have to let it "break in". Give it a week and it may clear up. Mine did.

Good Luck
Brian
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86 240GL, 86 740GLE & others

Peter's brother-in-law Richard here.

I did most of the job at my place, so Peter isn't to blame if I screwed something up.

The pilot bearing is new, and I made sure it was seated fully, without beating it to death. The throwout bearing is also new.

The flywheel was resurfaced by a reputable pro-grade auto parts store, on a dedicated grinding machine. They said they took their time because it "had a few hot spots". There were some small, short radial cracks visible on the surface of the flywheel before the job but they said it would clean up OK. There were no visible flaws after the surface was ground. They ground the surface that mates to the pressure plate to maintain the relative depth between the two surfaces

I made note of the instructions in the Bentley manual that said to make sure the orientation of the clutch disk was correct, so I'm pretty sure I got it right. It wouldn't go together all the way if it was backward anyway, would it? If it did go in backwards, so that the cushion springs weren't able to work, I can see it acting like this.

I was finally able to reliably reproduce the problem myself today. I would describe it as a non-linearity of the engagement curve, if you follow me. In other words, as you release the clutch pedal, it seems to engage perfectly normally to a point, then grab at the last instant. If you're trying to feather the clutch when it's almost all the way out, you get a chatter as the clutch rapidly engages and disengages.

Two questions:

1) If there was oil on the clutch/pressure plate for any reason, could this cause these symptoms?

2) This is a total shot in the dark, but is the Sachs part number K70029-02 the correct item for this application? I know that heavy-duty clutches with different compositions can be grabby.

Any suggestions most welcome.

Richard

You did it the right way..Maybe its the parts? Can you listen and look at the engagement under the car. Have you?
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john,,1985, 245:GLTi 246k mi..so.california

Hey John-

You lost me--how could I safely look at the engagement under the car?

Richard

I would place the car on a Lift or 4 stands. Then engage the clutch while I was under car.
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john,,1985, 245:GLTi 246k mi..so.california

Sounds like a problem with the pilot bearing. Was it bad, or did you forget it?

You didn't put the clutch disc in backwards did you? The side with the projecting hub should go towards the pressure plate.

Did you resurface the flywheel? That could be the problem, a new straight disc engaging to a warped flywheel..
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john,,1985, 245:GLTi 246k mi..so.california